


If You Don't Try...

by Scribbles97



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:02:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29614002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribbles97/pseuds/Scribbles97
Summary: ...You'll Never Know.
Relationships: Tanusha "Kayo" Kyrano/Virgil Tracy
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	If You Don't Try...

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to @gumnut-logic for giving me the kick up the butt i needed to get this one started <3

Jeff wasn’t sure what he had expected to come back to. He knew the boys had well and truly committed themselves to the cause of International Rescue, but he had never anticipated just how that would impact on the other aspects of their lives. 

It bothered him that Gordon seemed to be the only one of the five that seemed to have some form of established relationship. 

Not that that was a problem, but it was  _ Gordon _ , the son he had always expected to be least likely to settle down and the most happy to just play the field. 

He could, however, guess at another relationship in the making. He just wasn’t sure if Virgil himself had realised it yet. 

Oh yes, he’d seen it in those brief moments back on the Island. The clear fear in his son’s brown eyes as they had learned of what the so-called Chaos Crew had done to Brains’ lab, followed by a clear angry dip of his brow. Alone it might not have been so much of a clue, Jeff could have easily put it down as a normal reaction to terrorists invading one's home. 

Except, then  _ she _ had approached him, and Jeff knew his sight was off but he still didn’t miss the way her hand had reached out to brush his and the way the fear and anger had just evaporated from his son’s features. 

There had of course been other little actions that perhaps he hadn’t been meant to see, the briefest of glances across a room, the automatic shift of one when the other entered, and the telling smiles that neither seemed able to help. 

As far as he was concerned, it was a textbook romance. 

Yet, it seemed as if nobody else were aware of it. 

Nobody ever spoke of the couple together, none of them commented on how it had come about, there wasn’t even a jibe from Gordon. 

“Hey,” Virgil had greeted as he slipped into the hospital room, “Sorry I’m late, the parts for Two weren’t ready when I got to the depo so I had to wait for a while.” 

Jeff waved him off, shifting to sit up more in the bed, muscles protesting against the pull of gravity. 

“Nothing major needing fixing I hope?” 

“No,” Virgil shook his head, pulling the armchair around to face him before taking a seat, “Just some components for the thrusters that we anticipated would need replacing, they’ve already been fitted, these are just for spares.”

It didn’t surprise him in the slightest that the boys had kept on top of maintenance and improvements for their respective ships. To each of them their ships were like an extra limb, something they all knew by heart inside and out. He’d been there once, had known every intimate detail of them all, but that would no doubt be something else he would have to relearn. 

“Good,” He nodded quietly in approval, “And everyone alright at home?”

“Uh huh.” Virgil nodded, distracted briefly by his phone, smiling softly at whatever was on the screen. 

Jeff saw his moment, “Is that Tanusha checking in?”

Deer in headlights sprang to mind as Virgil looked up, the brown of his eyes wide as his mouth gaped slightly, clearly trying to find some rebuttal or excuse. 

He couldn’t help but chuckle at the look, everything he had been suspicious about finally confirmed. 

“You’re dating?” 

Shoving his phone back in his pocket, Virgil sighed. Leaning back in the seat, he shrugged, the fear fading into something much more childlike and unsure. 

“Not yet.” He admitted quietly with a small shrug, “I mean, we haven’t really had chance to talk about it with everything going on.” 

It was understandable, Jeff nodded, it wasn’t every day that a family member came back from the dead. That alone was enough for anyone to have to take in without the added complication of falling in love. 

“I do love her,” Virgil continued, voice soft, almost as if he were afraid of being heard, “And I think she loves me. But we’re--”

He didn’t need to hear the end of the sentence to know what was coming. 

“You grew up together.” He cut in before his son could finish. 

The way his son’s face twisted suggested he’d thought about that fact long and hard. 

“So you don’t think it’s weird?” Virgil asked, “Because, come on Dad, she basically is like a sister.”

There was something in his tone, in the way that his smile seemed tight and didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“Are you expecting me to be mad or something?” He guessed. 

An unsure shrug as the man shrunk in on himself. 

“Virgil,” He sighed, wishing everything wasn’t so  _ heavy _ , that it was easier to get up and hug his son, “I’m not here to tell you who you can and can’t fall in love with. Trust an old man when he tells you, that’s not even something  _ you _ can control.”

“It’s weird though, isn’t it?” Virgil persisted, shifting forward in his seat, shoulders still hunched protectively around himself, “Me and her?”

It was years of bringing up five boys that clued him in to the knowledge that his worry lay in more than just his father’s thoughts on the matter. 

“Who said something?”

The scoff was soft as he looked down, but it was definitely there, answering the question before Virgil even had to speak. 

“He didn’t know at the time,” He murmured, playing with a threat on the end of his shirt cuff, “Gordon was saying it to Alan after Kay had knocked him back one time.”

Filing the information away for later, and making a mental note to check in on Alan, Jeff tilted his head slightly. 

“So does Gordon still think it’s weird?”

Something about the question drew a smile to Virgil’s face, his eyes clearly distant with thought as he slowly shook his head.

“No, he found out about us and took it all back. Though I’m not sure if he’s just scared of what Kay would do to him if he did say something.” 

Leaning back again, Jeff chuckled, “I’d definitely make sure to use that to your advantage in the future.”

He couldn’t help but notice the hint of smugness in Virgil’s smile as he looked up, the dangerous glint in his eye comparable to Gordon’s as he nodded a confirmation. 

“But anyway,” He waved his hand at him, not allowing the actual matter to be distracted from, “If your brothers are okay with it, why are you still bothered by it?”

There was a good guess in the front of his mind, but he needed the confirmation. 

It was no good trying to fix something based on assumptions. 

“Because,” Virgil sighed, flopping back in the seat again, “If that was Gordon’s first thought about it, then who else is going to think the same? It’s not like we’re a normal family living a normal life. Sooner or later the press will get wind of this and will probably have a field day.” 

Being in the public eye and being a people pleaser had always been a worry for Jeff when it came to some of his son’s. Virgil himself was a quiet person, much preferring to stay out of the public eye unlike some of his bolder brothers. He was also a peace keeper, someone that wanted to make everybody happy. 

It hadn’t been until those long years in the Oort cloud that Jeff had started to question himself and his own selfishness. He should have known his son well enough, should have recognised that by simply asking Virgil to be a part of International Rescue he had trapped his son into the role. There were few times when his son had done anything other than what he had asked of him. 

That wasn’t the moment for such self-flagellation though, apologies for that could wait. 

“Do you think that would affect your relationship with Tanusha?”

He visibly stumbled, blinking wide eyed up at him as his brain caught up to the question. 

“She knows that we live in the public eye.”

Shaking his head, Jeff smiled softly, “That’s not what I asked, son.” 

He could see the thoughts processing, the question of why anyone other than the two in the relationship should have a say in it, of why such comments and judgement from small minded people should change how two people in love felt about each other, of why the pair of them couldn’t make it work regardless. 

He saw the moment that Virgil came up blank. 

“We’d still love each other.” 

Smiling, Jeff nodded, “Exactly. Nobody else gets a say in that son, not Gordon, not me, and most certainly not the small minded gnats that make up the world news.”

He wished he was in reaching distance, that he could reach out and squeeze his shoulder, give him a hug or something. 

“If you both make each other happy, that’s the most important thing.”

Even with eyes still adjusting to being back on earth, he could see the tears welling as Virgil stood. Straightening as best he could, he held an arm out, signalling for his son to cross the small gap. 

“Thanks Dad.” He murmured as he rested his forehead against Jeff’s shoulder, “I really needed to hear that.” 

Smiling to himself, he held on as tight as he could, “I’ve got your back kid, focus on yourself for a while, everyone else can come second for a change.”

He might have been gone for a while, and many, many things may have changed, but he was fairly sure that love still worked the same as it always had. 


End file.
